Australians prefer live big-screen TV

10 February 2014

SYDNEY: Australians overwhelmingly prefer live to recorded television, according to a new report which also says they gravitate towards the largest available screen.

The Australian Multi-Screen Report, from measurement companies OzTAM, Regional TAM and Nielsen, combines their data to assess trends in video viewing in Australian homes across television, computers and mobile devices.

The latest issue, for Q3 2013, showed that overall use of the in-home television set remained steady, at nearly 96 hours per month, but people's viewing patterns were broadening as mobile devices created additional opportunities to watch TV and other video content.

Fully 93% of all TV viewing was live, with playback of broadcast content that viewers recorded and watched within seven days accounting for 7%, or just over seven hours a month.

Playback over a longer period, between eight and 28 days of the original broadcast, was less than 1% of all TV viewing.

A similarly high proportion – 93% again – of all video viewing (including broadcast and non-broadcast content) was done on a traditional TV set, with other devices accounting for the remaining 7%.

The report found that just over half (53%) of homes had PVRs, while 22% possessed internet-capable TVs, up from 18% a year earlier.

As regards mobile devices, 37% of homes had tablets, up from 22% in Q3 2012, with users claiming to spend an average 50 minutes per month watching online video.

Two thirds of Australians over the age of 16 owned a smartphone and spent an average of one hour and 20 minutes per month viewing online video.

But most online viewing was still done on PCs or laptops, which accounted for a total of five hours and 18 minutes every month.